Breaking the Invincible
by Artemis Raven Courtney
Summary: When Starfire told the rest of the Titans about their 'futures', Beast Boy thought it sounded all wrong. Robin leaving them? Unthinkable. Cyborg being obsolete? Terrifying. Becoming a circus act and losing his hair? Don't even go there. But the biggest blow by far was the thought of Raven ending up in a mental asylum. Oneshot. BBRae if you squint. Set after 'How long is forever'


It wasn't right.

Beast Boy went through what Starfire had told them in his head again, trying to come up with a logical explanation. Maybe Starfire had hit her head in the fight and hallucinated the whole thing. No, Warp had definitely taken her somewhere (albeit unintentionally). Maybe she'd ended up in a parallel universe. No, then time wouldn't have changed. Probably. He wasn't really sure of the details of the multiverse. Maybe Warp and Starfire had ended up in some crazy simulation of their possible futures. No, that didn't explain why they vanished from sight.

As much as he hated to admit it, it seemed like there was no other explanation to explain why Starfire saw what she did.

Which meant that in some crazy world, that really was their futures.

He needed to stop thinking about this. After all, that was their future in a world in which Starfire was considered to be dead. By making her way back, she'd prevented it. Robin wouldn't leave them. Cyborg wouldn't become obsolete. He wouldn't become a bald, caged, circus act.

So why was this still bothering him?

The question nagged at the changeling, who attempted to create a reasonable answer as he stared out at the bay from one of the common room's large windows. Just as he was about to give up on his mental dilemma, the one teammate he hadn't originally thought of floated elegantly behind him.

"What are you staring at?" she asked quietly, her monotonous tone remaining unaffected by the volume of her words.

"Nothing, Rae. I'm just thinking."

"That's a first." She quipped, the corners of her mouth twitching into a slight smirk.

Oh.

 _That_ was the problem.

"Hey, it had to happen sometime." He joked back.

"Touché."

Beast Boy felt Raven's eyes on him as he pondered over his newest revelation. The problem, it seemed, wasn't the fate of Cyborg, Robin, or even himself. In fact, the detail that had been bothering him so much was the future Starfire had seen for the violet-haired empath hovering less than a foot behind him. Somehow, the idea of Raven in a room with padded, white walls in Jump City Asylum was so much worse than anything else the future withheld for the Teen Titans. He simply couldn't envision the cynical, intelligent empath he cared so much for becoming a prisoner of her own thoughts.

Though he supposed it _did_ make sense.

And that's what scared him so much.

Cyborg could build extra batteries. Robin wouldn't ever leave as long as Starfire was here. He'd never need to become a circus act as long as his friends had his back. But Raven… Raven was very different.

Beast Boy had been in her mind before. He knew she had versions of herself running around in her head, and that each version represented a different part of Raven. He also recalled the way she'd reacted to Doctor Light when her demonic rage gained too much power. Heroes, villains and civilians who had never gotten to know the empath like her teammates did all assumed she didn't care about anyone just because of a misleading monotone.

They didn't know her the way he did.

They hadn't seen what he did every day.

They hadn't seen her rush to an injured teammate with true panic in her eyes. They hadn't seen her use her own energy to heal even the most minor wounds. They hadn't seen her jump under falling rubble to throw up a shield and protect a teammate at her own risk. They also hadn't seen her hide away, resolved to keep her problems to herself for their benefit. He had. He'd seen the extent of her care for her teammates, her emotional precariousness, and her tendency to hide from the people she cared so much for.

Which is why he was so certain that if anything terrible were to happen to one of them, Raven's dark future could easily become a reality.

And the worst part? He would have no idea how to stop it. And apparently, neither had the version of himself that Starfire had met.

"Beast Boy, I can sense your fear. What's wrong?"

The changeling winced as he tried to find an acceptable excuse for his sudden anxiety, before remembering that with Raven's powers it would be pointless to lie and turning around to face her.

"It's just… Something that Starfire said. Nothing you need to worry about."

"If it's your hair, you don't need to worry. My healing abilities would probably work on your scalp." She said gently, but not without a slight eye-roll.

"That's a relief!" He beamed. "I thought I would really end up bald!"

"You still might. I said it would _probably_ work."

"Party pooper."

Raven sighed and shook her head at him. "Well, if that's all it was, I'll be going."

"Wait!" He yelled, startling both Raven and himself.

"What? Is there something else?" Raven asked tentatively.

Beast Boy sighed, running a hand through his green locks before answering hesitantly. If his skin wasn't so good at hiding blushes, he would be as red as Starfire's hair by now. "It wasn't my hair that I was worried about. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that you can help me with that, but there's something that worries me more."

"What could possibly worry you more than your future in an alternate timeline?"

"Yours."

Raven blushed and pulled up her hood, attempting to hide the coloring from sight. Beast Boy envied her. His own face was probably a muddy brown, and it felt like it was on fire.

Raven took a deep breath and crossed her arms before replying. "Beast Boy, that was an alternate timeline in which I though Starfire was dead, and the Teen Titans disbanded. Under normal circumstances, there is no possible chance of my mental state deteriorating to that point." Noticing his blank face, she sighed and changed her response. "I'm not going to an asylum. I'm perfectly fine, okay?"

"But what if things _aren't_ normal? What if something happens to Cy, or Rob, or Star? Or… what if something happens to me? I mean, you always pretend you don't care, but I know we're you're friends. How do I know you'd be okay without us?"

She took a small step closer to him, before saying gently. "That's easy. I _wouldn't_ be okay without you guys."

"You're not making me feel any better, Rae."

"First of all, it's Raven, not Rae. And secondly, Beast Boy, can you actually say that you wouldn't go a little crazy too? If something bad happened to me and you never saw me again, would you be okay?"

"Of course not. You're my friend."

"And you're mine. As are Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. You guys mean a lot to me, and I don't know what I'd do without you. And in this line of work, an unfortunate accident is very possible. That doesn't mean you should worry about me. It means you need to look after yourself out there so I don't end up losing you. And, consequently, losing myself." She paused, holding his gaze for a few moments, before continuing. "Does _that_ make you feel better?"

"A little."

A tiny smile tugged at her lips. "Good. Now get some rest before some idiot breaks out of jail."

Beast Boy chuckled, watching her glide away, before she turned back to him.

"Oh, and Beast Boy? I don't want to sense you worrying about me anymore. I'm practically invincible, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

She didn't respond, opting instead to quietly drift out of the room.

Unbeknownst to her, Beast Boy would be paying closer attention to her from now on, especially when she tried to shut herself in her room.

Because despite Raven's claims, even the most invincible Titan could break.

And if that ever happened, he would be right there, ready to fix her.


End file.
